Bring back the bank
West Bronx community protests Amalgamated closure on Burnside Avenue
BY ALEX MITCHELL
AND JASON COHEN
The west Bronx community
is outraged at a bank for
planning to close its doors on
Burnside Avenue at the end of
next month.
Led by the Jerome Avenue
Revitalization Collaborative
(JARC), residents and Bronx
leaders protested Amalgamated
Bank of 94 E. Burnside
Ave. and Chase Bank at 5 West
Burnside Ave. on Monday, criticizing
its shuttering on account
of the thousands of residents
and over 100 small businesses
that will be left without “accessible
high quality fi nancial services
options at a time of great
fi nancial vulnerability.”
The event was led by fi ery
District 14 City Council Candidate
Pierina Sanchez, who
had people chanting, “whose
Bronx, our Bronx” and “invest
in the Bronx.”
“Today we oppose the permanent
closure of Amalgamated
Bank,” Sanchez said at the
Aug. 24 rally.
Sanchez, a lifelong Community
Board 5 resident, recalled
how the Bronx, specifi
cally this community, has
been disenfranchised since
the 70s when the borough was
notoriously “on fi re.”
Then in the 80s, because
there were very few banks in
the west Bronx, her parents,
aunts and uncles were forced to
use check cashing places. But
now during a global pandemic,
the banks on Burnside Avenue
have left the community
high and dry.
“We are gathered here today
to represent an injustice
in the Bronx right here in our
own backyard,” Sanchez said.
“Finally when we started to
have them banks around,
they turned the corner as soon
as things get rough.”
Since October 2019, the
nearby Chase Bank has been
shuttered due to fl ooding and
leaks and protestors wondered
why it has taken nearly a year
to fi x the fl ood damage.
Amalgamated Bank told
its customers not to worry because
they have another location
in Co-op City. Sanchez was
furious and questioned how the
bank can expect people to travel
two hours by public transportation
during COVID-19.
“We want you back, we
Residents at the rally demanding banks return in the west Bronx on Burnside Avenue. Photo by Jason Cohen
need you back, we can’t afford
the check cashiers,” she
said. “With both Amalgamated
and Chase closed, the
heart of the west Bronx is left
with nothing.”
Jessica Betancourt, owner
of Bronx Optical on Burnside
Avenue and vice president of
BJTBronx Merchant Association,
Inc., expressed her frustrations
with the banks.
“As a business owner I’ve
been asked many times why I
choose Burnside Avenue,” she
said. “This is a community that
needs help from us to continue
growing. We feel abandoned
and it’s not fair. The Bronx is
not a forgotten borough. We
need a bank here again.”
Ubaldo Santos, president of
BJTBronx Merchant Association,
Inc., and a client of Amalgamated
Bank, could not believe
how the bank is treating
the community.
“It is unacceptable that
banks abandon this community
and leave consumers and
merchants looking for ATMs
here and there,” Santos said.
“It is unacceptable to ask merchants
to go miles away from
their business in order to speak
to a human being or fi x a problem.
It is dangerous, demoralizing
and unacceptable.”
Councilwoman Vanessa
Gibson said that the west
Bronx has welcomed the bank
for over fi fteen years, noting
that Amalgamated Bank is
“an institution founded years
ago by immigrants who realized
BRONX TIMES R 8 EPORTER, AUG. 28-SEPT. 3, 2020 BTR
the urgent need for fi nancial
services in underserved
communities.”
“We are outraged, disappointed
and feel abandoned by
an entity with whom we have
always supported and stood
by. It’s unfortunate that when
the challenges are the greatest,
Amalgamated would choose to
take its services elsewhere instead
of continuing its investments
in our community,” she
said, adding she hoped that the
bank would reverse its closure.
The move also concerned
members of multiple community
boards in the west Bronx,
including Community Board 5
Chairman Dr. Bola Omotosho.
“In the 21st century, economic
empowerment of our
constituency is a right, not
a privilege. It is a task that
is long overdue. It must be
done now with collective
responsibility,” he said.
Emmanuel Martinez, chair
of Board 7 said, “In our daily
lives, the steps we take dictate
where we’ll be as people, so do
the steps of our banks. If they
pull out of our community,
where will our district be 5, 10,
15 years down the line?”
Board 4 District Manager
Paul A. Philps also sounded
off on the matter, saying, “Access
to fi nancial services and
capital is a right not a privilege,”
adding, “in a time where
thousands of Black and Latino
owned businesses need
the resources and the reassurance
that accompanies
local fi nancial institutions,
it is quite disheartening to
hear that Amalgamated Bank
will be closing its branch on
Burnside Avenue.”
Protest leaders also called
on a local JPMorgan Chase
to reopen its doors after 10
months of closure and for the
fi nancial services industry
to “writ large to better serve
the community.”
The State Department
of Financial Services was
also called on by protestors
to strengthen Banking Development
District program
regulations and oversight of
the industry.
In June, Burnside Avenue
businesses and storefronts
were victims of intense looting
in wake of ongoing protests
around New York City.
A spokesman for the
bank said Amalgamated remains
committed to the
Burnside community.
“Amalgamated remains a
dedicated bank for Burnside
residents,” the spokesman said.
“Throughout the pandemic,
our team has proactively
reached out to more than 1,000
Burnside customers — most of
our Burnside customer base —
to help them gain access to online
and mobile banking, provide
ATM and debit cards, and
provide products, services and
information on how Amalgamated
can serve them during
these trying times. Amalgamated
remains committed to providing
continued resources for
fi nancial literacy in the Burnside
community and in our
other Bronx branch location;
offering remote transition services,
including live online
trainings, as well as a dedicated
phone number and email
for Burnside clients to get support;
and, in addition to the
40,000+ Allpoint ATMs across
the country — 25 of which are
within one mile of the Burnside
Branch — we are working
to get customers access to Allpoint
deposit accepting ATMs
in the area.”
Community Board 5 resident and
Council D-14 Candidate Pierina
Sanchez leads the crowd in rallying
for the need for banks on Burnside
Avenue.
Photos and video by Jason Cohen